He is my Heart
by PikaBrightheart
Summary: Mikleo wants to prove that he's capable of exploring on his own. Except it doesn't quite go as planned. [pre-game, spoiler-free]


_AN: This is the first of many Zestiria fanfics that I'm planning to write. I own nothing._

* * *

He was going to beat Sorey this time, he knew it. Only yesterday he had happened upon a brand new ruin, while Sorey was left unaware. Sorey had run off to investigate what he had thought was a stone monolith in the distance. Except it had turned out to be just an ordinary old rock… One laced with abrasions that might have been mistaken as an inscription.

Mikleo had arrived at this conclusion fairly quickly, and had proceeded to argue with Sorey about it for far too long. He had eventually admitted defeat and wandered off on his own, leaving Sorey to decipher what was "written" on the rock. Once Sorey had decided on something it was nearly always a lost cause after all.

While Sorey had been off in his own little world he saw it. It was difficult to notice at first glance, but if you shifted your line of vision just right… There was an entrance to an old ruin hidden behind some thick undergrowth, with a small stream winding around it. The doorway was so overgrown with moss and ivy that it almost looked like a product of nature. The only thing that betrayed the idea were lines that cut through the stones. Far too precise for a natural phenomenon. And it was obviously a very old structure by the looks of it.

After he had made his discovery he'd glanced back to Sorey, who was still entirely focused on the rock. He'd shaken his head; his friend could be so scatter-brained sometimes. He was so invested in that particular thing that couldn't notice what was right under his nose.

And so that was when he'd made his plan. The next day he was going to explore the place all on his own. He couldn't wait to see the look on Sorey's face. He wasn't going to believe all of the things he'd discovered by himself.

And now here he was, in front of that very ruin. A knapsack was slung over one shoulder, as he could never be too careful, especially while traveling alone. He'd snuck out of bed right before dawn, while Sorey had still been sleeping. (Thankfully Sorey was a deep sleeper and hadn't even flinched from all of his rummaging around.) And as the two of them always had spare supplies packed, it was fairly easy for him to quickly slip out unnoticed.

Trekking back out to the location had taken awhile, however, and by now it was midday. Sorey would have long since noticed his absence. And if he knew his friend (which he did) it wouldn't take much time for him go out in search of him. Keeping all of this in mind, he knew he was on a limited timeframe.

Typically Sorey was the one who made all of the discoveries on their expeditions. And at times it felt like his participation was almost… pointless. It didn't seem to make much of a difference if he accompanied him or not. Sorey would still come back to Elysia with unimaginable relics to add to his collection, and countless stories to tell...

Did Sorey even need him around anymore? He shook his head, it was best not to think that way. Besides this was the reason he was here. He had to prove he was capable. The last thing he wanted was to be a liability.

Mikleo raised his hand to brush past some vines which draped over the entranceway. Ducking underneath, he made his way into the tunnel. A trail of water from the stream ran down the opening, against one of the walls. He'd have to examine the stability of the area before proceeding. (There had been far too many incidents involving collapsing structures in the past.)

One time a rock nearly fell straight for Sorey's head. Thankfully he was a lot more level-headed than Sorey was and had pushed him out of the way in the nick of time. Unfortunately as a result, he himself had fallen in the process and fractured his leg. Sorey had had to carry him back the whole way. And afterwards they'd had to awkwardly explain to Gramps back at the village... Still a broken bone was preferred over a concussion… or worse. Ugh… Sorey could be such an idiot sometimes.

Now it was routine for them to check the durability. Materializing his staff, he gave the walls a few experimental prods. Nothing crumbled or collapsed. Hiding his staff again with a blue flash, he walked down the hallway. It was fairly narrow, and was growing increasingly darker the farther he went in. He kept his hand along the wall so as not to lose his way. Where might this passage lead?

If Sorey was with him, he would have run straight ahead, no doubt running into some kind of trouble. And then there were the times when Sorey ignored his warnings with a big grin and something along the lines of, "Come on! We need to live a little, don't we?" Like that one time he decided it would be a good idea to the swim down the bottom of a lake… In a rainstorm of all things. When the two of them could barely even swim.

Mikleo had tried his best to convince him otherwise, he'd even offered to do it himself. (He was a water seraph after all; it would have probably been less dangerous for him.) But in the end Sorey had still gone through with it. And he came back with a collection of ancient coins, and a nasty cold to show for it. Honestly, did he have no common sense?

As per usual when these things happened, Mikleo had stayed by his side the entire time. He could occasionally use a respite from Sorey's constant go-go-go mindset. Plus he liked having quiet time to read, you couldn't exactly do that in dark passageways. And okay, maybe he wasn't going to leave Elysia while Sorey was unwell. Because maybe _someone_ would be gripped with crippling worry if they left him in that state. That was a given.

Mikleo sighed. How exactly did humans survive out in the world? Sorey was the only one he knew, and based on him, their odds of survival didn't seem very high.

White light pierced his vision from up ahead, and he shielded his eyes as he walked out of the shadows. He'd been so distracted by his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed he'd reached the end of the hall. Mikleo lowered his arm from his face, and let out a high pitched sneeze. His violet eyes had always been sensitive to strong light.

As he blinked several times to gather his bearings, he heard a chuckle behind him. Turning, he saw none other than Sorey sitting cross-legged on the ground behind him. He was wearing his usual get-up. With his favorite royal blue shirt, his spiky brown hair, and the feathers which adorned his ears. He was biting his lip in an attempt to hold back a laugh.

"And just what's so funny?" he demanded.

"Well, it's just," he scratched his cheek with his thumb, "You kind of sound like a little kitten when you sneeze."

Mikleo felt the blush rise to cheeks, "What? I do not!" he asserted, trying to glare at him.

"Do too!" Sorey jumped to his feet and strolled over to him far too casually. He gave him a wide-toothed grin, "What took you so long?"

"Huh? "What took me so long?" How did you even know where to find me?"

"Just a hunch!" he beamed.

Mikleo crossed his arms. There was no way that just a "hunch" had led him here. "You knew this place was here all along, didn't you?"

"Maybe," he smiled.

"But, how did you even get here so fast? You were still asleep when I left."

"Well, I kinda knew that there was a passage to an unexplored ruin near the village. And I noticed you looking at something past the trees yesterday. So then, I figured that it was a ruin and that those two passages must link up! And I guessed that that's where you'd be!"

So it really had been a hunch...? He'd really found him by sheer dumb luck? Mikleo must have been making a face, because Sorey continued, "What? I notice these things too. Well… sometimes at least."

Mikleo shook his head, "But what if your intuition had been wrong? Did you think of that? What if you had gotten lost?"

"But you came out here by yourself too," Sorey noted.

Yes, but that… That was different. He came prepared for any unexpected circumstances. But in Sorey's case…

Right on cue, there was a loud growl from Sorey's stomach. "By any chance, did you happen to bring any food? I'm starved…"

Sighing, Mikleo shouldered the bag off of his back. "Sit here," he instructed, kneeling to undo the knot and reveal the contents. He'd taken a bag with several apple gels, and bottled waters, along with some crackers, and dried prickle boar meat.

Sorey sat down beside him, and clapped his hands together, "Thanks Mikleo, you're a life saver!"

"I swear, you wouldn't last a day without me," he muttered, watching as Sorey gobbled down the rations.

After he'd put a fair dent in the supply, Sorey glanced over to him, "Aren't you going to eat anything?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Unlike humans, seraphim didn't need to eat in order to survive. And although he liked the taste of food and the comfort of a full stomach, it wasn't mandatory. But he always remembered to pack food for Sorey.

Sorey gulped down the rest of his water, and placed the bottle down. "Say, is everything all right?" he queried, resting his hands on his knees.

"Huh, why?"

"You're awful tense."

Mikleo held his hand over his face. Maybe Sorey might trip over a rock five feet in front of him, but reading people… that was something he excelled at. Himself in particular. More often than not, the two of them didn't even need words.

"Oh, I know. You wanted to explore somewhere on your own again, didn't you?"

Mikleo could have sworn he'd held a straight face, but obviously he had some tells he was unaware of. Sorey continued as if he'd voiced a confirmation, "You know, I could explore another place, if you still want to look through here?" he offered.

"Thanks, but that's okay. I'd rather if we just carried on together, since you're already here," he smiled, "But next time, remember to bring supplies along. If you hadn't found me you'd still be hungry." Mikleo reached over to tie up the knapsack again.

"All right, fair enough," Sorey huffed. He stood to his feet and offered his hand.

Slinging the bag over one shoulder, Mikleo reached out to clasp his hand. And with a strong pull he was back on his feet.

"I really am glad I caught up with you, though. This place looks huge!" he grinned, "And I'm sorry if I'm making you worry."

"Its fine, you haven't."

"I'll try to remember to be more careful," Sorey answered, seeing straight through the lie.

"I sure hope so," Mikleo said. It's not like someone was constantly worried about him or anything…

"Hey Mikleo, there's this giant chamber over here. You've gotta check it out!" Sorey said, already running off beyond his view.

"And there he goes again…" Mikleo mumbled through a smile.

* * *

The ruins were extremely vast. The two of them spent the next few hours simply looking around. And judging from the density of the undergrowth and the writings within, it was ancient. Mikleo estimated that it had been built long before the Age of Chaos. Even with all of the erosion, he could tell that the architecture had been thoughtfully constructed. With beams and arches carved with intricate artwork, and murals painted along the walls, depicting humans and seraphim.

"I think this was a shrine of worship," Mikleo said, drawing his fingertips against one of the drawings. It featured a Shepherd reaching out towards a group of seraphim. He paused and rested his hand under his chin, "Hmm…"

Sorey glanced up from the piece of parchment he had unearthed. It was so old that it was practically crumbling in his hands. "What is it? Figure something out?"

"I just… like the feel of this ruin. A lot of the time these structures were made in dedication to the five lords, or a particular seraph."

Sorey jumped to his feet, "And this one celebrates the bond that both humans and seraphim share!"

"That's right. It just reminds me of how things were different in the past. Humans used to hold so much faith and trust in us seraphim. And in return the seraphim would bless the lands of the humans whom they watched over…" Mikleo trailed off.

He heard the sound of Sorey stepping next to him, "It makes me happy too. This ruin gives me hope for our dream."

Mikleo nodded, "Me too." One day humans and seraphim would coexist once again. Like himself and Sorey… "We'll have to come back here again," he decided.

"Yeah, definitely! Speaking of which, it's probably getting really late…" Sorey scratched his head, "I don't suppose you remember the way we came from?" One of the problems with being trapped underneath dark, ancient, structures was that it was difficult to keep track of the time.

"Of course, we came in through that way," Mikleo stated, leading the way back through the hall.

They both proceeded to crisscross through a variety of rooms and passages. Except they didn't seem to be making much progress...

"What? I could have sworn I came in through this room," Sorey was saying as they reached a dead end.

"I really hate to say this, but we're officially lost," Mikleo sighed in resignation. He leaned against the wall, and slunk down, hugging his knees.

"And I'm beat… Guess we'll just have to find the way out in the morning." Sorey said. He continued to pace up and down the hall they were in. "Maybe I can find something…" he voice cut off as walked out of earshot.

The two of them were used to this sort of thing. Even after all their years of exploration, they still got lost an embarrassing amount of times. Especially when they had been kids. Back then (and even now honestly) Sorey would always unknowingly set off all sorts of traps meant to keep out looters. The entire village had had to find them quite a few times. They had probably given Gramps a lot of gray hairs.

A draft blew past and Mikleo tried to huddle closer to the wall. The cold metal of his circlet stung against his forehead. For a moment he considered removing it, but quickly pushed the thought aside. It wasn't that bad after all.

Sorey returned shortly after and sat directly at his side, leaning against him. Wordlessly, Mikleo pressed his cheek against his hair. The strands tickled his face. "Your hair's gotten long again, hasn't it," he noted. He drew back so he could brush his hand through the brown spikes. "How can you even see with it in your face like this?" he wondered aloud.

Sorey blinked, a slight flush settling across his face, "Well, the change was so gradual it was hard to notice. But now that you mention it…"

"I'm trimming it when we get back," Mikleo decided, smoothing his hair back into place.

"You know, I could trim yours too," Sorey offered.

"NO!"

"Aw, why not?"

"You know why!"

"Are you still referring to that? Mikleo, that was ages ago... And I said I was sorry! Don't you think you can let some things pass by now?"

"You didn't have to live with the consequences." Mikleo muttered. Ever since that incident he never let Sorey touch his hair. Ever.

"I'd be way more careful now! You can't even see your circlet anymore." Sorey reached out a tentative hand towards his face. Mikleo frowned at him, and he stopped. "Is this okay?" he asked.

"Go ahead," Mikleo said, conceding defeat. He closed his eyes as he felt Sorey's fingers gently brushing his pale blue hair back. His circlet was gold with an emerald at its center; he'd always worn it for as long he could remember. And all right, maybe Sorey touching his hair wasn't the worst thing in the world… "Why does it bother you anyway?" he wondered.

"I've always thought that it looked nice on you. I was just wondering why you didn't want anyone else to see it." Sorey said, before taking care to fix his hair back into place.

Mikleo rested his head against his leg to hide his blush. Sorey said these things far too simply. But… that was just the way he was. "I just like it this length, that's all."

"Oh, I see. I still think that you look nice either way."

"W-what?" Mikleo stammered, giving Sorey a slight shove.

Sorey nudged him back, "So… I'm still not aloud to cut your hair again, am I?"

Mikleo glared at him, he wouldn't be forgetting the incident anytime soon. Before he could react, Sorey reached for the ticklish spot below his ribs with a mischievous smile. "H-hey!" Mikleo laughed, reaching for Sorey's stomach. The two of them ended up in a tickle fight, slumped up against the walls of the ruin.

"What was that for?" Mikleo demanded, after his sides were sore from laughing.

"To see you turn that frown around," Sorey hummed.

Mikleo just shook his head with a smile. He was such an idiot. Another strong gust of wind blew by, and he shivered, scooting over towards Sorey. Sorey wrapped his arm around his shoulders to draw him closer. And without a thought, Mikleo nestled his head against his shoulder. "We should probably call it day," Mikleo mumbled.

"Night," Sorey said, his voice reverberating through his skull from their proximity.

"Good night," Mikleo said, shutting his eyes. "And don't drool on my face," he added. Sorey laughed at that. Back at home, Sorey was always such a bed hog. He hardly had enough room to sleep, as Sorey would always be sprawled about any which way. Mikleo always had to lay right beside him just to find room. And if wasn't so freezing in this ruin he'd probably sleep somewhere else. Probably.

The two of them soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep. And before Mikleo knew it, it was morning. He felt a few taps on his shoulder and blinked open his eyes to see Sorey kneeling in front of him. "Morning sleepy head," he greeted.

"Good morning to you, too," Mikleo said through a small yawn.

The two of them then wasted no time in gathering up their supplies and commencing their search. After passing through one area for the third time, Mikleo stopped. Trailing his eyes towards the floor, he caught sight of something that he hadn't given much thought to before. A small stream of water ran through this room, flowing from the passage to the right. That was it! "Ah!" Mikleo exclaimed.

Sorey spun around, "What is it?"

"When I entered these ruins, there was a stream running in from the outside. And since the current is going down from the right, I think this is the way out!" he exclaimed, motioned towards the doorway.

"Really?! You think so! Let's check it out!" Sorey said, nearly stumbling as he raced for the passage.

Mikleo hurried after him, and once they reached a good distance, there was a blue light ahead. At once, they both ran full speed through the remaining length of the passage until they emerged in sea of green plants. The sun shone above and birds twittered on happily. They'd found the exit.

"Mikleo you're a genius!" Sorey nearly shouted with excitement, embracing him a brief hug.

"It was nothing. I just happen to notice these things because I can actually see past my nose," he grinned.

"Hey it's really not that bad! I saw the water too; I just didn't put it together like you did. Really, thanks Mikleo! I'm glad I caught up to you, honestly I'm not sure what I'd do without you sometimes," he admitted, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

Mikleo paused. Maybe he'd been wrong. He didn't need to prove anything to Sorey, Sorey always believed in him. The only one that he'd been trying to convince of anything was himself… It was true that sometimes he did feel a little jealous from all of Sorey's accomplishments, but he was just as capable. Sorey had his strengths, and he had his.

Crossing his leg over the other, Mikleo replied, "Someone has to keep you in check."

The two of them smiled, it was one of those looks that they'd only share with each other when they were alone. It was something special between the two of them. A simple look which exchanged so much, of feelings and words that never needed to be said to be understood.

Who had he been kidding? Sorey really did need him, and Mikleo needed him too. And if Sorey ever tried to run off on his own, he wouldn't allow it. However the fact remained that Sorey was human, so he'd no doubt want to live among them one day. And when that day came Mikleo would be one step beside him. Because Mikleo would be there for him no matter what, he was willing to do what ever it took to keep his best friend safe. Even if that meant traveling to the ends of their very planet.

Sorey held out his palm towards him, "Shall we head back home?"

Mikleo held onto his hand, and laced their fingers together, "We shall," he affirmed. And with their hands entwined together, the two of them headed back up the slopes towards Elysia.

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 _AN: Thanks for reading! And if anyone has any requests for Zestiria fanfics, feel free to let me know! ^^_


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